


Times Three

by 51stCenturyFox



Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012), Torchwood
Genre: Bickering, Crossover, M/M, Mention Of Suicide Attempt, Misuse of technology, Multi, Temporary Character Death - Jack Harkness, Threesome - M/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-25
Updated: 2012-10-10
Packaged: 2017-11-15 01:24:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/521609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/51stCenturyFox/pseuds/51stCenturyFox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony Stark collects tech. Jack Harkness collects alien tech. Steve Rogers collects hearts without even trying.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [На троих](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9671678) by [lord_Henry](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lord_Henry/pseuds/lord_Henry), [WTF_Avengers_2017](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WTF_Avengers_2017/pseuds/WTF_Avengers_2017)



> This is for [shawarmababy](http://shawarmababy.tumblr.com) on tumblr, who [created an amazing gifset](http://shawarmababy.tumblr.com/post/32186913302/i-think-i-like-captain-starkness-best) that inspired this (and which I've quoted.)
> 
> Thanks to copperbadge for beta, and special thanks to neifile7 for porn polishing!

No doubt about it. Being attacked by invaders from alien realms...sucked. After the Chitauri, it wasn’t like a constant stream of aliens were beating down Earth’s door, but there had been some tentacled jerks a few months ago from somewhere near Kepler 22b and a scourge of nanobots from who-knew-where after that. And technically Tony wasn’t supposed to have kept a couple thousand of the nasty little bastards to reverse-engineer, but come on; he was Tony Stark and that was what Tony Stark did.

He was in the workshop waiting for the final process to be complete on a new coating layer for Cap’s shield that resisted corrosive acids (thanks, tentacled jerks) when a man and woman strode in together, dark-haired and determined. Tony was already moving to initiate security countermeasures via JARVIS when he saw that Pepper was trailing behind them, her heels tapping on the floor, so he reluctantly cut the music instead.

“Tony,” Pepper said breathlessly when they neared -- the guy had a long stride, but the woman, dressed in a black leather jacket and boots to match over tight jeans, edged back, casting a curious eye around the workshop.

“Good evening, Ms Potts,” Tony said, wiping his hands off on the nearest rag. “Stock down again? Are we charging for tours now?”

Pepper smiled and brushed hair from her forehead as the man in the military-style greatcoat stepped forward, offering his hand.

“Tony Stark -- Iron Man himself. Pleasure to meet you. I’m Captain Jack Harkness.” He offered a little half-smile as the woman came closer. “And this is my associate, Gwen Cooper.”

“And I should know your names because...” Tony trailed off.

“Tony. Manners.” Pepper threw him a scowl.

“Sorry. Yeah. I’m Tony ‘Iron Man’ Stark,” he confirmed, inserting air quotes, before offering a hand first to Cooper, then to Captain Harkness. “Who are you with again?”

“Torchwood,” Cooper said.

Tony squinted, then nodded. “Ah.” He remembered Torchwood from the news. Something to do with mass hysteria cases...people who imagined alien abductions, like that. Some kind of across-the-pond X-Files. “Huh. You’re mixed up with um...” he snapped his fingers. “U.N.I.T., right?”

“Hey, Cap,” Tony called out as Steve entered the workshop. “Come meet some visiting U.N.I.T reps. U.N.I.T.’s like SHIELD with more menacing uniforms. Not as snug and body-conscious, it must be said. But you know how the British are. Kinda...” he noticed Cooper was launching a preemptive death glare his way. “...classy. Uh, you know, civilized.” But then Tony’s attention wandered to Harkness and the way he was gazing at Steve. Like he was a porterhouse steak covered in butterflies and tied up in shiny gold ribbon. Tony’s eyes narrowed. 

“Captain Steve Rogers,” Harkness enthused with an entirely too-perfect grin, shaking his head. “It _is_ you. It’s really you.”

Tony lifted his gaze to the ceiling. Another one with the trading cards.

Steve shrugged, shaking the offered hand. “Sure.”

“Don't you remember me?”

Steve shook his head slowly, but Tony noted an unsettled expression sliding over his face as he took a closer look at Harkness. Where had Steve run into this guy? At SHIELD? “It couldn’t be, but...I’m pretty sure I must have met...your father, maybe? In the war?”

“Oh, Steve knew everybody’s dad, in the _war_.” Tony waved a wrench in the air.

“It’s kinda uncanny. You’re his spitting image,” Steve murmured, still staring.

“Am I?” Captain Harkness raised an eyebrow.

Cooper rolled her eyes, folding her arms. “You said it was fine if they knew, the Avengers,” she said, with a lilting voice. “On our side, you said.”

“It is,” Harkness nodded at her before turning back to Cap. “It wasn’t my father you knew before, Captain Rogers.” he said softly, but Steve just looked perplexed. “It was me.”

“Wait a minute, were you frozen too?” Tony asked. “ _Two_ Capsicles? Call my bookie; I’m rich.”

“You’re already rich, Tony,” Pepper chided.

“I love a long shot.”

“Jack wasn’t frozen. He can’t die,” Cooper said, matter-of-factly. “Doesn’t even age, really. Old as hell.” And at that, Steve's mouth fell open in a way that wouldn’t be very attractive, Tony thought, if it wasn’t Steve’s mouth.

“Yes, the Cap and I go way back,” Harkness said, and Steve’s shoulders straightened almost imperceptibly.

“Oh. Well, then.” Tony set the wrench down on a debris-crowded table with a loud clank. “Now I don’t know if I’m jealous or aroused.”

“That was a long time ago,” Steve said, casting a glance at Tony.

Harkness smirked, raising his chin. “Not so long for you, I hear.”

“Aroused,” Tony muttered, and Pepper surreptitiously poked him in the side as Steve broke his stare at Harkness, sat down hard on a nearby bench and let out a gust of breath.

“I’ve got multiple things to take care of before Tokyo wakes up,” Pepper said, with a glance at her smartphone. “I trust Tony will see you out when you’ve finished your business...” she inclined her jaw at Tony. “Which Colonel Fury called me _personally_ to arrange. If not, JARVIS will.”

“It was a genuine pleasure meeting you, Ms Potts,” Harkness said, lowering his lashes at her as he gave her hand a slow parting shake. “You’re Stark’s...”

“CEO.” Pepper said. “General wrangler, in charge of--”

“She’s my _Pepper_ ,” Tony interrupted, sliding an arm around her waist and giving Harkness a challenging look.

“...shall I fetch a ruler?” Gwen inquired after a pause, and Pepper bit her lip as Tony steamed. Who was this Harkness anyway? This...Pepper-charming, retro-coat-wearing, Steve-knowing, not-dying, U.N.I.T.-affiliated crank.

“Our business shouldn’t take long,” Tony said as Pepper gave Gwen a small wave and retreated. “Why _are_ you here, Captain Harkness?”

“Please. Call me Jack,” his visitor said, and bestowed the same winning smile on Tony he’d just given to Pep. That really wasn’t going to work on him, though, charming, handsome motherfucker or not. “And I think you probably already know why we’re here.”

“You can’t have a suit. U.N.I.T. can go fuck themselves.”

“No, it isn't anything like that,” Jack said, as Gwen planted herself next to Steve and wiggled an ankle encased in glossy black leather. “We’re only interested in extraterrestrial or timeshift technology. Nanobots, Mr Stark. _Tony_. We know you have them, and we have this motto: if it’s alien, well, it’s ours.”

Tony gave him and his motto a sour look. It was a good thing U.N.I.T., or these Torchwood flakes, hadn’t known about the Tesseract. Probably.

“Well, let's see...last I checked, you don’t really have jurisdiction here. You’re in New York, not England.”

“Wales, actually,” Gwen said, raising a hand. “Torchwood. Cardiff-based. Welsh thing.”

“Nice accent, I _like_ it, very musical,” Tony said before turning back to Jack, “...and the last time alien tech went loose around here, SHIELD took care of it just fine,” Tony rubbed his chin, thinking of the missing Chitauri blaster a young couple had used to rob a couple of banks before Agent Sitwell took them down.

And then SHIELD gave them jobs.

Come to think of it, SHIELD wasn’t really that competent. Maybe this Torchwood bunch had their shit together better, or maybe not. But they still weren’t getting their hands on the tech, Tony decided.

“We’re here for 48 hours,” Jack said tersely. “And I’m prepared to give you a very detailed rundown of all the reasons why your possession of this particular technology poses a major threat to Earth’s future.”

“Drama queen,” Tony grumbled. “You’re awfully quiet, Cap. You know this guy. What do you think of his unreasonable demands and passé personal sense of style?

“Captain of this team, aren’t you?” Jack said to Steve, who looked like he still hadn’t quite recovered after meeting up with an old acquaintance from the 40s who _couldn’t die_. “Why can’t you just order Stark to-”

Steve seemed to come back to himself, and began to reply just as Tony cut in.

“No,” Tony said, raising a hand. “No. The Avengers Initiative has nothing whatsoever to do with the presence or absence of any alien or native Earth technology in this building or in any other location as yet undisclosed.”

“Do you typically take this kind of insubordination?” Jack directed the question at an exasperated-looking Steve with a wink.

“Like you don’t?” Tony said, waving a thumb at Gwen. “Biker chick there doesn’t seem like the type to listen to your bullshit orders.”

Cooper...Gwen, looked up at Tony then, and to his surprise, laughed out loud. “Look, we’ve just got off a six-hour flight next to a screaming infant that wasn’t mine. He’s a bit grumpy and I could eat a bear. Perhaps we could discuss this over some food. Being civilized people, as we are. Isn’t that right, Jack?”

Tony thought he’d probably nailed that relationship analysis fairly well.

“That’s a pretty good idea,” Steve said, rising from his seat as Tony glared. “I seem to recall that you owe me a dinner, Captain Harkness.”

“Fantastic,” Tony said under his breath. “I’ll have JARVIS make a reservation."

* * *

shawarmababy is so awesome... 

[](http://51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com/pics/catalog/322/108219)  



	2. Chapter 2

“SHIELD is exponentially more awesome than U.N.I.T,” Tony declared as he crossed his silverware over his plate, though in truth, he believed SHIELD to be far from infallible as a bureaucratic body that he didn’t even listen to more than 26% of the time. It was just...that impulse that made you defend your home team even when they were a bunch of bums. Bums? Yeah, but they were _your_ bums. “After all, we have a Hulk.”

“Ah, but we have The Doctor,” Jack said.

“Sometimes. When it’s convenient,” Gwen muttered under her breath. Tony watched her catch Steve’s eye from where she sat across from her at the table. Steve had been watching the back-and-forth between Tony and Jack like a ping pong match, but being awfully quiet.

“Our Hulk _is_ a doctor,” Tony crowed. “Point: SHIELD. And now...round two: we have a God.”

“Time Lord,” Jack folded his arms.

“You already...no. You can’t whip him out twice,” Tony said.

“We have an immortal,” Gwen gestured at Jack.

“No powers, besides inability to die.” Tony shook his head. “Doesn’t count.”

“Charm?” Jack ventured.

“Doesn’t count. Can you summon weather? Wield a hammer no mortal can heft? No?”

Jack laughed and leaned back in his chair, sliding an arm over the back of Steve’s.

“Should have brought that ruler,” Gwen said, scrunching up her napkin and setting it beside the plate before looking in vain again for a server. “But I’ll settle for another pint. Anyone else want something from the bar?”

“Glenkinchie,” Tony said, jiggling his glass. He’d only had one tonight and was largely sticking to water; he was taking it easy on purpose, though Jack had joined him in a dram.

"Go with her, Cap. Make sure she doesn't slip anything funky into those drinks," Tony said. He faced Jack again. “I read your SHIELD file before dinner. I like my memories where they are.” He tapped his temple.

"Hmm," Gwen said noncommittally, easing her chair back slightly before Steve quickly rose to his feet and came around the table to pull it out for her. She looked delighted at his manners.

"You know it's not alien tech or top secret organizations they're having a pissing match over, don't you?" Gwen asked him as they waited at the bar.

“Tony can be a little territorial,” Steve conceded.

“He’s obviously got his flag stuck into you,” Gwen said, then her eyes widened as she hastened to clarify. “I don’t mean...not literally, of course.”

“He’s...” Steve rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “...he’s not really angry at the two of you. I can tell. He’s just having a good time being difficult.”

“Does he do that often?” Gwen asked tucking a booted foot onto the bar rail. “Be difficult?”

“ _Constantly_ ,” Steve said.

Gwen nodded. “Is it strange, by the way?”

“What?”

“That you’re on the team and you’re...together?”

Steve paused. "I could ask the same.”

“Oh, we’re not...god, no.” Gwen turned pink. “I have someone. We’re...”

“Close, though, right?” Steve said, and she nodded again. They put in the drink orders before he continued. “See I thought maybe you...I hardly got to know Jack at all but he did tell me about this woman, during the war. Someone he’d wanted to marry, start a family with.”

“Was it Estelle?” Gwen asked lightly.

Steve blinked. “Yes, Estelle.”

“Oh, I’ve met her.” Gwen said. “It’s too bad -- she’s passed away, a few years ago. Jack always stayed in touch with her, went to visit.”

“They didn’t end up together?”

Gwen shook her head. “Sadly, no.”

When they’d returned to the table, Tony and Jack had moved their chairs together and were...huddling, for the lack of a better word, Steve thought.

“We’ve come to an agreement,” Jack said, signing the receipt. So Torchwood had picked up a tab after all, Steve thought. He guessed that counted as the dinner Jack had once promised him.

“So here’s the deal.” Tony took a sip of his fresh drink. “I show you the nanobots and listen to your rationale for destroying really amazing technology on the condition that Dr Banner gets some alone time with Jack’s blood and tissue samples.”

Gwen looked doubtful. “He’s been through that...”

“Not in our lab. We have a scientist who changes form because of gamma radiation and a super-soldier who was frozen for decades and didn’t die or age. I think our insight into physiology is pretty advanced.”

“Condition two,” Jack chimed in, “is that this compromise flies under the radar for both SHIELD and U.N.I.T.”

Steve shrugged. “Sounds fair enough.”

“Great,” Jack said, rubbing his hands. “Now, who wants to hear some war stories?”

*

“I hate to break this party up so early,” Tony said at around half past midnight, “but we have a full day tomorrow. Lab rat hoedown first.” He looked at Gwen. “Do you need a lift?”

Jack spoke before she could reply. “Hotel’s here in midtown. We’ll walk, thanks.”

“‘Night,” Gwen said, pulling on her jacket as she and Jack headed for the door. “Cheers, Jack. Ride would have been nice.”

“In one of Stark’s cars; bugged, I’m sure,” Jack pointed out as they alighted on the curb. “We could take a taxicab if you want to.”

“No, bit of fresh air is good. It’s fine,” Gwen said as Jack gallantly offered her his arm and they began to walk. “So, why don’t you tell me about meeting Captain America during the war?”

“Well, the British military had a interest in Project Rebirth too -- the whole process that built him up from a skinny recruit to a super-soldier. I was interested for different reasons; I was still trying to figure out how to fix what’s...wrong with me.” Gwen squeezed his wrist. “We had a military representative there for his transformation, and she told me about it.”

“Pillow talk?” teased Gwen.

“Nope. She only had eyes for Rogers. Fell in love with him, in fact. She knew he’d be touring some RAF posts and tipped me off.”

“So you met up and fell for him yourself?”

The corner of Jack’s mouth quirked up in the half-dark. “A little bit. I mean, who wouldn’t? But I only spent the better part of a day with him.”

“A lot can happen in one day,” Gwen pointed out.

“Truer words,” Jack agreed.

*

“Holy crap. Torchwood actually has an effective firewall.” Tony tapped in a command code on his tablet and threw up his hands, exasperated.

“You can’t get in?” Steve asked.

“Oh, I can _always_ get in,” Tony replied, eyeing the initials on the code. “Figures. But it’ll take some time. I’ll set up a hack to backdoor through U.N.I.T. instead.”

“Okay,” Steve sighed, kicking off his shoes and joining Tony on the bed.

“So you only spent one day with Captain Highlander during the war? That’s it?”

“Right,” Steve nodded as he pulled off his shirt, and that was distracting, as usual. “One day. USO troupe visit in Wales. We did a couple of shows for the Royal Navy and the RAF. Cultural exchange, I guess.”

“What else did you exchange? DNA? Was that a 24-hour day? Did that include sleeping?”

“We didn’t sleep together, Tony,” Steve said. “You know that-”

Tony tilted his head. “I know.” Putting the tablet down, he stood to unbutton his shirt and pull it off before unbuckling his belt. “Don’t tell me you didn’t do _something_. Guy had his hand on my knee while we were hashing out the deal.”

“Alright.” Steve colored. “Kissing.”

“Now we’re talking. So he kissed you? Details?”

“No, I kissed him. We’d been talking, and-”

“Wait. Whoah. What? A minute. Let me prepare my body for this story.” Tony yanked his pants down and threw them on a chair before working on Steve’s fly. “And your body.”

“Tony,” Steve let his head roll back. “There isn’t much to tell.”

“You made the first move on that giant flirt? Come on, I have to know.” Tony grazed his teeth over Steve’s collarbone on the way down his chest.

Steve groaned. “Well, I can’t concentrate if you keep...doing that.”

“Okay fine.” Tony sat back on the bed expectantly, and Steve leaned up on his elbows. “Talk.”

“Like I said, there isn’t much to...not what you’re interested in hearing, anyway. He came to this USO event, we talked for hours about Project Rebirth -- I told him everything that wasn’t classified -- and about Peggy, since he knew her; he’d met her in the field. Well, I talked about Peggy, kind of a lot. I didn’t even know her that well yet but, you know how it is.” Steve smiled at the memory, managing to look wistful at the same time. “He had a gal too...he was kind of a sad sack, talking about how he’d thought he wanted to marry her, but he wasn’t certain if it was a good idea.”

“Because he’s basically a Grail knight?”

“I didn’t know that he was _immortal_. It didn’t come up,” Steve said, and Tony laughed, because really, it was funny, but Steve gave him a vexed look. “I felt sorry for him, I suppose. I don’t know...it’s hard to explain, but he seemed lonesome and in that moment I just felt like giving him a kiss. So I did.”

“Then what?” Tony nearly shrieked and Steve made a _shhh_ motion. “Sorry. That’s my slumber party voice. The walls are thick. Please continue.”

“Nothing. We...kissed for a while. Then he had to go, asked me to have dinner with him the next night, but the USO troupe had to move out early. I left him a note with regrets. The end.”

“How long is ‘a while’?” Tony asked, settling himself against the pillows next to Steve. “Did you make out?”

Steve rolled his eyes. “I guess we did. And now you know that I made out with an immortal RAF captain in a troop truck during a thunderstorm.”

“That is the coolest story I have ever heard.”

“You’re not jealous, are you? That was a long time ago, for him, anyway. You said...”

“No,” Tony said. “Shit. No. Okay. A little. Mostly aroused, though.”

“Yeah, you said that before, too,” Steve said, yawning around the last two words. “You’re an oddball.”

Tony checked the progress on JARVIS’s hack, tossed the tablet on the bedside ledge and ordered the lights to dim before snuggling closer and kissing along Steve’s jaw. “Too tired, huh?”

“Mmm hmm,” Steve mumbled. “You know...you know you don’t have anything to worry about, Tony.”

“I know,” Tony said, curling into Steve’s side.


	3. Chapter 3

“This bears a stunning resemblance to an NHS form,” Jack said, peering at the checklist attached to the clipboard Bruce had handed him after Steve accompanied him to the lab in the morning.

“Like you’d know,” Gwen retorted. “I, on the other hand, recently broke a toe and discovered that my records had been ‘disappeared’.”

“Guilty,” Jack said, turning to Steve. “We erase our official traces every once in a while for various reasons. Like hiding from the government. You know how it is.” He laughed.

Tony grabbed the clipboard, glanced at the attached sheaf of documents, and then handed it back. “Why are you doing this on paper? You can have JARVIS record the answers, Banner. Jesus.”

Bruce shrugged. “Holdover from grad school? I’m recording, too.”

“Some people like having things on paper, Tony,” Steve said. “What if the power goes out and you don’t have anything to read?”

“We have solar reserves and the arc...okay, never mind. I know better than to get into this argument.” He nudged Gwen. “Come on, we’ll leave the mutants alone. No offense, mutants. Wanna see my weapons?”

“What, no etchings?” Gwen grinned.

“Steve might show you his etchings later if you’re nice,” Tony said. “Like, if you buy a war bond or offer him a sarsaparilla candy cane. Ever fired a laser, Gwen?”

She tilted her head. “Ever fired a tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator?”

“...oh, we’re gonna have so much fun.”

*

“I’m not sure what good this will ultimately do,” Jack told Bruce as he drew yet another vial of blood.

“Well,” Bruce said, pressing down with a piece of gauze before taping over it. “Maybe vaccine components. Who knows...something in your cell structure could hold the key to curing cancer someday.”

“He’s messing around with my samples too,” Steve told Jack. “Though the serum really can’t be extracted from them. I heal faster than average, but I can be mortally wounded.”

“You sure about that?” Jack raised a brow.“You survived a plane crash and being frozen for decades.”

Steve smiled. “I’m not gonna test that theory for science.”

“Yeah, good,” Jack said wryly. “Don’t.”

“How many times?” Bruce asked Jack. “I mean, how many times have you...come back?”

Jack shook his head. “I -- hundreds?” He rolled his sleeve down and buttoned the cuff, then finally noticed the silence following his admission. “I mean, I fought in a couple of wars, and dealing with aliens can be a particularly dangerous line of work.” He paused again and noticed that Steve, in particular, looked upset. “Look, I probably -- no, scratch that -- I definitely take more risks than the average person. Sometimes it’s like, ‘hey, diversion!’ so someone on the team can...you know, manage a sneak attack. Being unkillable has its practical side.” he half-shrugged, then produced his patented smile.

“Does it hurt?” Bruce asked quietly.

“Sure. It’s not _pleasant_. I’ve been shot, stabbed, glassed, drowned. There were lasers. Once I was knocked unconscious and uh...there was a bomb...implanted.” He gestured at his middle and looked sheepish at the looks of shock he received. “...and it was, god. That was a doozy. But I guess it beats the alternative...” he trailed off as Steve excused himself and left the room.

Bruce angled his head towards the retreating captain. “Probably thinking about going down into the ice. That couldn’t have been fun, either.”

“No,” Jack said. “Not at all.”

“Did you ever...” Bruce fiddled with the vials in their rack. “I don’t really need to know this, but have you ever tried to end it? Yourself?”

Jack leveled his gaze at Bruce until he looked up again. “I’ve lived for a very long time, Dr Banner. Through a lot of painful...” He glanced at the clipboard on his lap. “You know how paint coats things, like...a picnic table; get enough layers down and the water just beads up on the surface.”

Bruce nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

“I’m more resilient than I used to be. And less, I suppose.” Jack sighed. “Once, I drank myself to death, and I started on New Year’s Day instead of the night before. Harder than you’d think. Couldn’t touch booze for years after that.”

“Ouch,” Bruce winced.

Jack shrugged. “One thing I can’t do? Spend too much time living in the past. A regret bender is even worse. Let me ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“You ever secretly glad that it’s you that this,” Jack gestured at Bruce, “happened to? Not because it’s something you ever wanted, but because you can handle it, in the end?”

Bruce snorted quietly. “I wouldn’t wish it on somebody else, but I don’t always do the best job of...handling it.”

“You can, though. You do, because you have to,” Jack insisted. “Being different like this, like us...” he nodded to Steve as he returned to their corner of the lab, “...sometimes I’m glad it was me and not somebody more fragile.” Jack closed his eyes for a moment, thinking of Gray.

“You should have seen me before the serum,” Steve said, trying to lighten the mood. “My picture was in the dictionary next to the word ‘fragile’.”

“Only on the outside, Cap,” Bruce replied. “Only on the outside.”

*

“...so we raided this alien weapons depot and found a defabricator. And it does just what you’d think. With clothes.” Gwen winked.

“Being Dorian Gray isn’t all it’s cracked up to be for Harkness, is it?” Tony asked Gwen as they traveled around the workshop and he pointed things out.

“No,” she agreed quietly. “You’d think...it must be great at first. Human beings...we all fear dying, don’t we? But the people Jack’s known don’t always cope very well with...his...this...you know. And losing people you care about is awful; he’s seen a lot of loss. More than anyone, I’d reckon.”

Tony nodded. “Makes sense.”

“This is...version 2.0?” Gwen asked, looking up at the section of an Iron Man suit mounted on a lift.

“This, is a hybrid,” Tony said, reaching up to adjust a servo link and patting the metal. “It’s one of the old test versions I keep throwing things onto. Come on.” He grabbed a glove and led Gwen to the other end of the workshop, where a panel slid back, revealing several suits behind glass. She gave a low whistle.

“Impressive,” she said. “You have backups.”

Tony handed her the red glove. “Go ahead; put it on, Lara Croft,” he said, and laughed as she broke into an enraptured grin.

Gwen twisted her hand into the glove and wiggled her fingers. “It’s not as heavy as I thought it would be.” Tony pointed out the controls as she flexed and turned her hand over, making a fist.

Tony moved behind her and held up her armored wrist, guiding it towards another wall featuring a platform holding various chunks of scrap material. He aimed at the platform, steadying her hip with his other hand. “You ready?” he asked, voice husky against her ear.

“Deja vu,” Gwen breathed. At Tony’s questioning look, she smiled over her shoulder. “Never mind. Yeah, I’m ready.”

“Nail it,” Tony ordered. The glove made a low whine and the repulsor shot shattered a half-mask on the platform, leaving a smoking scorch mark on the wall. Their arms flew back from the recoil.

“Oh _wow_. That has quite a kick,” Gwen said, and Tony gave her a thumbs-up.

“Want to put on the other one?” he asked, holding up a second armored glove.

“Yes,” Gwen nodded quickly. “Yes, I do.”

After Tony donned a repulsor of his own, they both took additional shots, scorching and pocking the creamy wall until it resembled the backdrop in a battle scene. Gwen paused. “Did you teach Steve how to use these?”

“Not yet,” Tony smirked. “But I’m planning to, now.”

“You’re good for him, I think,” she declared. “But you do have other people around you, don’t you? I mean, people who aren’t superheroes.”

“Sure, yeah.” Tony nodded. “You met Pepper. And Rho- James Rhodes. Friend of mine, known him for years. But hanging out with superheroes isn’t really a negative, unless you want to win arm-wrestling contests.”

“Oh, not saying that,” Gwen replied. “But you know, it’s nice to be around people who really see you, sometimes. Who knew you before you were in the saving-the-world business, who bust your chops and keep you grounded and all. Modest.”

“That’s not actually possible,” said Tony. “I had an enlarged ego before I got into this hero business. Because I’m a genius.” He winked. “You know how it is.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s an asset.” Gwen said with an answering eyeroll, before spinning, aiming, and hitting a battered trophy with a repulsor shot.

“And extremely rich,” Tony added, firing off another blast to finish it off entirely.

“Can’t hurt,” Gwen agreed. “Hey, do you have a flamethrower option on these?”

Tony flashed a smile and cranked up the music.

*

“Lunch?” Jack suggested as he and Steve walked down the corridor away from Bruce’s lab. “I want to see the nanobots as soon as possible, but having a lot taken out of you takes a lot out of you. I could go for some of that New York pizza. The floppy kind.”

“I’m hungry pretty...often,” Steve admitted, though his appetite had been in a steady retreat after Jack’s litany of the various ways he’d died - _electrocuted, run over, alien trash compactor..._ “Let’s see if Tony and Miss...Gwen want to eat something.” He slowed and pressed the down button on the elevator bank. “Jack...I,” he began, but fell silent when Jack looked back at him.

He’d wanted to say “I’m sorry,” or “I feel guilty about things I really can’t even express, and I don’t actually know why,” but he couldn’t find the right words to say even that, so he reached out and gripped Jack’s shoulder, then let go. They traveled to the workshop level in silence.

“I know,” Jack said finally as they alighted to the sound of one song ending with a drum crash and the opening thrumming notes of Led Zeppelin coming from down the hall.

_Hey hey mama said the way you move,  
Gon' make you sweat, gon' make you groove _

Their eyes were drawn upward as soon as they walked into the workshop; Tony seemed to be holding a laughing Gwen aloft by one finger as she hovered overhead, the repulsor glove thrusters glowing bright as she aimed her hands straight down.

“Oh, _Tony_ ,” Steve said, shaking his head.

“I’d wave,” Gwen whooped, “but then I’d fall and break my arse.”

“Don’t do that!” Jack called back with a grin as Tony jiggled her boot to the music and grabbed the other, lifting her higher. “Think of the paperwork, Gwen!”

Steve gave Jack a sidelong glance and for the moment, was cheered by his look of genuine delight. 

Maybe he worried too much. Jack seemed to be just fine.

* * *

[Black Dog, Led Zeppelin](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl6s1x9j4QQ)


	4. Chapter 4

JARVIS broke up the scene in the workshop with the announcement of a pizza delivery, and the break for lunch was a matter-of-fact affair, except for wadded napkins tossed across Tony’s living room and the addition of Bruce and Thor.

“You all just have big communal meals, then?” Gwen asked around a slice of sausage pie, sounding fascinated at the idea of superhero lunch breaks.

“Most of the time we’re not on the same schedule,” Steve said, wiping his mouth just as Thor beaned him with a napkin. “Do you _mind_?”

Tony stood. “Much as I’d like to spend the remainder of the day fucking off, I do have other fuck-off things I could be doing, so let’s get the nanobot tour out of the way.”

Jack and Gwen followed his lead, leaving Steve behind to discuss something with Thor.

“Probably giving him a lecture,” Tony said, as they entered the elevator. “Now actually, the nanobots are in a secure location, so I really should blindfold both of you.”

Steve clapped his hand on the edge of the closing door and slid inside. “Blindfold them to go to the fourteenth floor?”

Tony glared. “Nice.” Steve shrugged innocently.

*

“Okay,” Tony waved at a room behind a thick glass window, with a large black half-dome snugged up against one of its walls. It appeared to be otherwise empty. “Check ‘em out.”

“That room is sealed?” Jack asked.

“Sealed and airlocked,” Tony confirmed, running a hand through his hair. They jacked up the last batch of test rats, so we’re not taking any chances.”

“Test rats?” Gwen asked.

“Yeah, we threw in a dozen, loosed the bots, and BAM.” Tony smacked a fist into his palm. "I think they lasted 20 seconds.“

“Rat jam?” Jack asked, and Gwen made an _I could puke now_ face. “How do you ‘loose’ the nanobots?” Tony took Jack’s arm to steer him closer to the window, before pointing.

“See that black disc? Electromagnet. I could send in more rats right now and they’d be fine; there’s no way the nanobots can fight that field. It’s perfectly safe.”

“What if the power goes out?” Steve ventured.

“Then we tie a key to a kite and perch on top of the tower waiting for a thunderstorm.” Tony grinned as Steve gave him a long-suffering look. “Backups. Fail-safes. Not a problem.”

“I’d like to go in,” Jack said, and Gwen gave her head a tiny shake. “It _is_ safe, right?”

“As long as the e-mag's on. But there's no point to it, really,” Tony replied. “They’re practically microscopic. Want me to send in a couple of rats?”

But Jack insisted, and Tony shrugged as he took off his coat. “Fine. I wouldn’t get too close to the magnet if I were you, though."

Jack passed through the airlock, entered the room and looked around him. The others watched through the glass as he raised his wrist, pulled the leather strap he was wearing open and tapped at the interface within.

Nanobots were tiny, tiny things. But a thousand-strong swarm of these nanobots wasn't entirely invisible. A faint gray mist waved like a flag from the black disc into the center of the room, and settled over Jack like a blanket. He shook like a tissue in a strong wind and fell to his knees, eyes closing.

“Shit!” Tony hissed. “Shit, shit, shit. What did he--- oh fuck. He disabled the magnet.” Tony pulled a keyboard out of the wall and began entering code.

Steve pulled at the handle to the locked door, but Gwen's voice stopped him. "You can't save him. Don't do it. You'll die if you go in there."

Steve smacked the glass hard with the flat of his hand in frustration as Tony cut the wailing alarm. "I'll suit up," Tony said, looking up. "I'll go in."

"Don't," Gwen repeated gravely. "Your suit -- it has seams. It won't block something so tiny as these, will it? Just let this happen."

"No," Tony said, pausing in his efforts to reset the magnet as Jack writhed on the floor on the other side of the wall of glass, and finally fell still, his spine arched and the back of his head touching the floor.

"Is he…?" Steve asked, his throat choking around the words, and Gwen slid her hand up the middle of his back as Tony tapped at the interface.

"Yeah," Gwen said. "For now. Not jam, thankfully."

"You knew he was gonna do this," Tony's eyes narrowed with the accusation, and Gwen bit her lip. 

Jack's arm went up suddenly, bent at the elbow, and he rose to his knees awkwardly, then pitched forward onto his face. It would've hurt, but his face showed no emotion.

"He's alive again," Steve said quietly, but Gwen shook her head.

"No. He's not breathing. Look at his chest. The nanobots are animating his body." Jack's body moved in a half circle once he got to his feet, walking in a clumsy shuffle, his eyes still shut.

"How is this possible?" Steve asked. "This is..."

"Jesus, he's like a zombie," Tony put a hand to his mouth, unable to look away.

Jack's body flailed and he fell to his knees again, then to his side on the floor. Suddenly, his eyes opened and his chest puffed out as he appeared to take a huge, gasping breath, and the swarm was visible again for a few seconds.

"Now he's alive," Gwen said, just before Jack started to twitch and twist on the floor again before going still. "And now...not."

"Fuck me running," Tony whispered.

"Well, turn on your bloody electromagnets," Gwen said, exasperated. "How many times do you want him to go through this?"

Tony shook his head and tapped at the controls again, and a few seconds later, a flicker of gray swept the room from Jack to the right side. They waited, Steve holding his own chest, until Jack took another heaving gasp of air. It looked painful. He slowly sat up all the way, head dropped forward, hands hanging down by his knees, and Steve tried the door again.

"Don't you dare," Tony warned. "He has to go through the scanner in the airlock. Make sure we got them all."

Jack passed the test, and Tony took in the sheen of sweat on his forehead and Jack's tiny nod at Gwen. _I'm all right_ , it said, and he didn't miss the way her hands twitched at her sides.

“What the hell?” Tony hissed, quiet but obviously livid. “Don’t you. Ever. Don’t ever touch the controls to anything in this building again. Steve, take that apparatus.”

Steve grabbed Jack’s arm, but Jack didn’t resist. He lifted his other hand in capitulation, unfastened the wrist strap, and handed it over. “I’d like to have that back when we leave.”

*

Jack cleared his throat. "Okay, so…these were initially a threat to plant life, specifically cellulose and a mix of amino acids they could read -- didn't you capture these in the first place because they were attacking a forest? -- and then your test showed that they’d drop a small animal."

“And apparently a big guy, too,” Tony spit out, aggravated. “What the fuck was that about?”

"They've adapted to higher life forms," Jack said quietly. He smoothed his palms out on the conference table. “I’ve seen these before. I knew what they could do.”

"You didn’t have to demonstrate on yourself, idiot,” Tony said unironically.

"Yeah, 'cause you were listening with an open mind when Jack said they were dangerous--" Gwen cut in, then backed down at Tony's icy glare.

“Okay. Okay. What _are_ they?" he asked.

"Colonization nanobots," Jack said, leaning back. "In the future, obviously, Earth gets kinda crowded, along with a lot of other habitable planets. Humanity has places to go, but even planets with a welcoming temperature and water sources can have deadly things lying in wait." He paused.

"So a small ship goes out, armed with these bots, and they kill everything that's alive…viruses and bacteria, plants. They adapt to the life found on the planet and learn its structure and biology in order to overtake it. Is it carbon-based? Probably, right? But if not, they learn that, too. They work their way up the food chain until the place is scrubbed and safe for humanoids, who then come down with their own healthy bacteria and oxygen-generating flora and fauna, basically to replicate an existing environment.”

"That's...murder," Steve said. "Isn't it?" But Tony gave a thought to the acid-spewing tentacled aliens (they were dicks, let’s face it) who'd attacked last month and considered that maybe some species weren't really worth preserving, even in zoos.

"I used to think the future would be like Star Trek," Gwen said, sounding wistful. "Learning to live peaceably with aliens on other planets most of the time and adapting to their ways and all."

"Nope," Jack said. "And these nanobots -- this particular strain -- have adapted. They should have recognized me as a human life form and lain dormant, or they could have just killed me, but…" he indicated the replay monitor. "They've learned to control sentient beings. Rodents wouldn't be able to do much, so they don't bother with those. It's probably in some way more efficient to use tool-capable mammals to kill each other, or to perform other tasks, like slaves. I don't know if this batch have figured out a purpose for this ability yet, so that's just a guess."

"Holy shit," Tony said. "So aliens are using this tech on humans now…are there plans to colonize Earth? This was an invasion force we stopped, right?"

"Not exactly," Gwen said with a shrug. "We traced the signature, and they came in through a Rift…that's not just something aliens and alien debris can slip through, but a time Rift. These are from the future, and as far as we know, it's just a massive fluke they ended up here."

"So thank you for stopping this, and capturing these," Jack said. "But there really isn't a reason for them to exist anymore, is there? We want them destroyed."

Tony rubbed at his goatee. "They're sentient tech, but they're _tech_. That means they can be reprogrammed. Used for good. They could be employed to eat the rust off underwater mining equipment or to desalinate seawater. That's why I'd planned to reverse-engineer them…practical applications."

"How long before they adapt to the magnetization jail and then adapt to eating their way through tempered, sealed glass?" Jack tapped on the thick window. “They have their own artificial intelligence and they can build on whatever they learn. We need to destroy them before they can.”

Tony’s eyes searched Jack’s, and he let out a deep breath.

“Fine,” he said, waving a hand. “You win, Methuselah.”

*

"Where's Jack?" Steve asked later, and Gwen motioned towards the windows with her coffee cup.

"Roof. He likes roofs," she said fondly, watching as Steve joined him on Tony's balcony.


	5. Chapter 5

“So tell me; how’s Toshiko?” Tony asked Gwen as she fiddled with her smartphone. She set it on the bar top with a sharp click.

“Toshiko,” she breathed, knotting her fingers together.

“Tosh Sato? She still work with you? Big fan. 18 hours. It took 18 _hours_ to break your firewall,” Tony held a hand up at Gwen’s disquieted expression. “Don’t worry; it’s not like anybody else could do it. I don’t even share this tech with SHIELD. But Toshiko...I tried to hire her like, nine times. Turned me down. Every. Single. Time.”

“Tosh was a genius,” Gwen said softly.

Tony inhaled. “Was. Wait. Was?”

“Was, yes. She’s...” Gwen studied her cuffs. “She died. She was killed in the line of duty. She was heroic, too.”

“God. I’m sorry,” Tony said, his hand covering both of hers.

*

“Well, this is a far cry from Cardiff in the rain,” Jack said, sitting on a bench at edge of the balcony.

“Yep,” Steve agreed as he joined him and looked out over the city below.

* * *

_Cardiff, 1942_

The sky overhead had threatened to open and weep for hours -- the air was flavored by the threat of rain -- but it was cool and relatively quiet outside after the press of sweat-damp bodies in the over-capacity dance hall and the razz of trumpets from the band. They were imported too, but the beer was local. Steve couldn’t get drunk on it, but he held a pint of ale to have something to do with his hands; it wasn’t much cooler than the air itself. 

“Great show,” said a voice from behind him. “I especially enjoyed the bit when you held up the dancers on the motorbike.”

Steve felt his neck go red as he turned. “Yeah, I...thanks.”

“Captain Jack Harkness,” the man said, offering his hand. “And you’re Captain America.”

“Steve,” he coughed in reply, shifting his untouched pint to shake. “Steve Rogers.”

“Pleased to meet you, Steve Rogers,” and the man’s voice and smile were as warm as his long wool coat looked. Steve had left his coat somewhere with the costumes and had donned his service dress, so he could feel like a soldier instead of...whatever he was.

“So you’re American? How’s the RAF?” Steve realized from his age and rank that Jack must have been a pilot volunteer even before Pearl Harbor, and envied him straight off. 

“Not bad,” Jack said with a rakish smile. “They taught me to appreciate a good cup of tea.”

“Tea’s...good,” Steve said lamely. He felt a little bit like a failure; here he was, a performing puppet, talking to somebody who’d probably seen action in a Spitfire, in Dieppe maybe. Jack kept talking, though, and though he was cocky, like all pilots seemed to be by nature, he was friendly, too. And as luck would have it, he’d been involved with a research project, knew Peggy Carter and about the serum, and frankly...it was a relief for Steve to have somebody to jaw to about it.

They made their way back inside when Steve offered to buy Jack a drink.

He had to get up early, but lingered anyway. Jack seemed to covet conversation as much as Steve did. He told Steve about a pretty Englishwoman named Estelle, his eyes going a little misty, and when Peggy’s name came to Steve’s lips for what must have been the tenth time he figured out that Jack saw through him, and had to know what a crush he had on the gal. That made Steve clam up; it wouldn’t do for Jack to carry a story back to her when they met again.

The music climbed louder, spinning into Cow Cow Boogie and driving the roar of the crowd higher as dancers jostled into their backs, and Steve angled his head towards the door again. They’d barely been outside for a minute when the skies opened and the rain began to fall -- smooth and steady.

Steve nudged Jack and waved him over to one of the transport jeeps with a thick cover, and they scrambled inside, damp and laughing, their knees touching as the settled onto the ridged metal floor of the truck bed and continued their conversation, which turned somber in time, slower, with more pauses in between their exchanges.

He’d never been the first to initiate a kiss with...anyone, but for some reason, Steve broke that tradition in order to lean forward and fill one of those pauses with the press of lips. And that had been, well, something he hadn’t expected from himself. But Jack had simply wound his fingers around Steve’s neck, and he didn’t even mind the ridges of metal under his shoulder blades when Jack slid on top of him and kissed him back.

* * *

The sky above Stark Tower was warm and hazy, the sun trying its best to sally from behind graying banks of cloud cover.

“Must be tough for you, getting used to all these changes.” Jack swept a hand across the cityscape stretched out before them. “Take the slow path like I did, and it’s a gradual thing. One year cars grow fins, and the next year...bigger fins. You went to sleep during a world war and woke up to the Mars rover and the Kardashians.”

Steve laughed, throwing his head back. “I did. I’m still not entirely sure why they’re famous.”

“I don’t think anybody is,” Jack replied with a smile.

*

“You sure it’s okay?” Gwen asked Jack, holding the invitation to the new Bond premiere Tony was blowing off tightly. “And don’t you want to come? We probably won’t get back to New York for a while, and this is sort of once-in-a-lifetime, isn’t it? Daniel Craig, Jack.”

“Nah,” Jack shrugged. “Connery will always be my Bond.”

“Probably literally, huh?” she smirked, and Jack only lifted a brow. “Oh shit. What am I going to wear?”

*

Steve seemed so pleased, Tony thought. Pleased to be able to talk to someone he knew from before if even for a short time, someone who remembered many of the same things, though it was different, of course -- Jack hadn't been asleep for the intervening years, hadn't jumped from the 1940s straight through to the present like Steve had, even though his wardrobe said different.

And Tony…well, Tony could've been the bigger man tonight and left them together at the table to reminisce, gone to bed or fucked off down to the workshop to free Steve's shield from the coater and maybe fiddle with the Mark IX a little, left these two alone.

But he didn't. Instead Tony pulled out a chair, eased it over to Steve's back and covered his hand resting on the table with his own, twining their fingers together possessively, because screw you, Harkness, you charming, flirtatious bastard…this one was his.

Tony was barely listening at the point when Jack shifted from some story about wartime shows and Estelle into space adventures (Steve was obviously engrossed) into "the last thing I meant to do this evening was to come between you, you know," like he'd just noticed that Tony was resting his head against Steve's shoulder.

Jack added. "but…actually…in literal terms," he murmured, heavy-lidded gaze shifting from Tony to Steve to Tony as his hand covered theirs on the table. "…I wouldn't mind that too much right now."

Steve's breath hitched at the touch, and Tony felt the nails of his free hand digging into his palm, because there it was…now he was only ten percent jealous and ninety percent aroused at the thought that Jack wanted them. Wanted them both.

Jack drew his hand back slowly, placing it on the table a few inches from theirs, and gave a low chuckle, but didn't look away. "I'm…"

"No, no, that's alright," Tony cut in before Jack could say anything else, apologize, maybe, because fine, blood was rushing to his dick right then and he could see the pink of Steve's ear and that meant something specific.

"…sorry," Jack went on. "We're, uh, heading back to Cardiff tomorrow, so..."

Tony lifted his hand, the one holding Steve's on the table, and slid his fingers back to rest lightly on Steve's wrist, leaving him free to move.

Jack had most certainly had a threesome before, and so had Tony. Tony's threesome back catalog had involved two models at once in a hot tub, both women, and another time there had been a Hollywood A-lister and his girlfriend, and come to think of it, that had kicked off in a hot tub too. Hot tubs, for some reason, always seemed to bring out the you-only-live-once vibe and make group sex sound like a pretty awesome idea if not a foregone conclusion. Maybe it was the chemicals.

Jack’s threesome experiences, if his war stories weren’t crap, had likely involved _aliens_. He was obviously a YOLO kind of guy.

Tony had always secretly suspected that three men together might be too many dicks on the dance floor, but he was always willing to have his views broadened.

Apparently, so was Steve, because he slowly stretched out his fingertips on the table and nudged them against Jack's; a wordless _yes_.


	6. Chapter 6

They’d shifted to the living room, and Tony had wanted to change and ditch the shirt and tie. He’d also had a hushed exchange with Steve in the kitchen while Jack had sipped his drink and caught the news on the widescreen. _”Not in our bedroom,”_ Steve had said, and Tony hadn’t even planned that far ahead, except he was ridiculously touched at the thought that Steve reserved that space for _them_ and a little abashed that he hadn’t had the same thought.

“We don’t have to,” Tony said. “Just because he’s offering, right?”

Steve kissed him then and smiled, then whispered back, close to his ear: “Yeah, I know."

“Do you want me to leave you two alone? I mean, leave?” Tony asked, and man, was that a sacrifice, but he would. Jack was the first man Steve had ever kissed, as far as he knew. He’d probably fantasized about him back then, and he’d had to have assumed he was long dead, and vice versa.

Plus, alright. He was hot. _Good eye, Steve_ , Tony thought.

“What? No!” Steve hissed. He actually looked horrified at the idea, and Tony kissed him that time, fingers linked around the back of his neck.

“I’ll be right there, then.”

Tony retreated to the bedroom to change, and if he told JARVIS _sotto voce_ to restrict access to the floor and shoved supplies into his pants pockets, nobody had to see that. He wasn’t a hundred percent sure what he’d find when he returned, but coming up toward the back of the big leather sofa and seeing Jack cup a hand around Steve’s jaw and pull him into a sweet, slow kiss was something else.

For a moment, Tony considered just leaning back against the wall and watching them, maybe having JARVIS crank some Glenn Miller for the full THX-enhanced 3D cinematic experience, but that would have been a Steve-impulse. Steve knew how to look at something beautiful in just the right way and take a snapshot with his mind and maybe later dig out some charcoals and a pad and draw and draw, but a Tony-impulse was to dive right in and start taking things apart with his hands. He moved in front of them, kneeling to view the kiss from a different angle and watch Jack’s fingers wrapping around the nape of Steve’s neck, Steve fisting a hand into Jack’s ice-blue shirt.

“You’re both too damned pretty,” Tony rasped as Steve’s other hand found its way into his own dark hair and gripped. “Especially taking age into account,” and Jack laughed at that, burying his face in Steve’s shoulder.

Tony glanced up, meeting Jack’s gaze -- seductive, heated, _promising_ \-- and tried to communicate without words (which was hard, so hard for Tony Stark) that this was about Steve, tonight. But Jack smiled, catlike, and Tony knew he’d caught the gist when his fingers traveled to Steve’s pearly buttons just as Tony focused on his fly and worked it open and oh god, they were going to mess Cap up, to _wreck shop_ , as they said, or as Tony did, at any rate.

Steve arched his neck and groaned towards the ceiling as his shirt came off, and that...that right there. That was what Tony had been waiting for, and he felt a flare of want burning low, deep inside.

Jack seared another kiss into Steve’s lips, his hands mapping his bared chest, as Tony urged Steve’s hips upward to free him from khaki and pressed cotton. Steve’s fingertips hooked into one side of Jack’s gray suspenders, and who really needed suspenders _and_ a belt? There were an awful lot of things getting in the way of what was probably a pretty compelling view, Tony thought.

At the same time, though, there was something astoundingly hot about Steve being the only naked man in the room, especially because he seemed to have forgotten to be self-conscious about it.

“Oh, yeah,” Tony said into Steve’s thigh as Jack dipped and and skimmed his lips over his perfect chest and Steve stuttered a gasp. Tony shifted from the floor to the sofa, angling himself behind Steve as Jack leaned forward, and Tony pushed his palms flat against Steve’s heaving back, catching Jack’s eyes again.

“Holy shit,” Tony breathed. “We have the entire experience spectrum here, don’t we? I need to know the hyperparameters, because...”

“Shhh,” Steve said, punctuating the command by reaching over his shoulder and pressing his knuckles against Tony’s lips. “And why is everybody still dressed except for me?”

“Trying to see how long it was before you notic--” Tony was cut off by Jack’s mouth this time, meeting him across Steve as Steve struggled to divest Jack of his belt, and...wow. Jack could kiss, all right.

Tony pulled away finally to find Steve had paused and was watching the two of them hungrily. He canted his head to capture Steve’s lips again as Jack slipped down his other suspender to divest himself of his shirt and the tee beneath, before Steve turned and ran his fingers under the hem of Tony’s own tank and pushed it up. He could hear Jack’s soft intake of breath when he saw the reactor without the filter of fabric and opened his mouth to explain when Steve cut in.

“Tony _built_ that. Saved his own life.”

“I had help the first time,” Tony said. “I’m not a cyberman though, so you can chill.” Jack lifted an eyebrow, but Steve looked confused. “I’ll show you the rundown tomorrow, babe.”

“That’s classified,” Jack chided, tripping his fingertips higher along the inside of Steve’s nearest thigh.

“You’re touching a national treasure, Harkness,” Tony quipped. “And you’re not even American anymore, if you ever were. So I guess we’re all even with the classified.”

“So you did hack our mainframe,” Jack shook his head.

“ _Guys_ ,” Steve said softly, and Tony slipped his hand down Steve’s back while Jack yanked down his own pants and boxers.

“Hey, this is flirting,” Tony said with a wink. “Guest room,” he decided then, collecting his pants, because damn, the sofa was awkward enough for two, and there was a bed in there nobody used except Happy, once in awhile. Jack and Steve trailed him down the hallway and he ushered them in. Jack was the first to take advantage of the bed by stretching out, and Tony decided to take advantage of _that_. He crawled up between Jack’s legs, keeping eye contact -- Steve might be learning how attractive he was, the effect he had on people, but he still seemed surprised by it -- but Jack, Jack just _knew_ it.

Well, there were some things Tony knew he was good at, too. He lowered his head to lick a broad ribbon along the length of Jack’s cock, following up with a warm huff of teasing breath and took him deep, just as Steve captured his wrists. “Oh _god_ ,” Jack said, and Tony pulled back for a moment, not bothering to conceal his smirk.

He lifted his eyes, watching as Steve kissed Jack, Jack wrapping Steve’s dick in his fist, teasing the head expertly, as Tony let his hands roam down. He got up and grabbed a bottle of lube from his pocket, then slicked a finger, then two, into Jack, felt him buck back into his palm. Tony reached up with his other hand for Steve’s dick, joined Jack’s stuttering fingers on an upstroke, and Steve moaned deliciously.

Steve’s refractory period would have been a bigger legend than he was if it had been public knowledge, but Tony didn’t see the point in wasting a go when Jack was right here, opened up, flushed and panting...and Tony hadn’t missed the appreciation in his eyes when Steve’s pants had come off.

“Cap,” Tony prompted hoarsely, and Steve gave him a lazy smile before grabbing Tony’s proffered condom and shifting down to take his place over Jack, taking over with one hand before easing in.

Tony wasn’t sure whose face to watch then, so he split the difference.

“C’mere,” Jack pulled gently at Tony’s wrist, gaze moving downward as he licked his lips, and if he wanted a dick in his mouth too, Tony wasn’t going to deny him the pleasure. 

Jack had hidden talents as well, Tony thought, as he watched his eyelashes flutter shut, making a sound that was half appreciative, half strangled, and entirely filthy as Tony slid a hand into his dark hair.

“ _Fuck_ , Jack.”

With Tony’s hand over Steve’s over Jack, Steve’s speeding thrusts as Jack worked Tony with his hands and mouth, they peaked in quick succession -- Tony pulling away first, watching Steve as he went over the edge biting his lip hard, followed by Jack. Jack looked wrecked, and if he’d turned out to be the fulcrum tonight, hell, he’d earned it after the day’s events.

“I think we just went down in history,” Tony breathed.

“Well, I did, anyway,” Jack replied, and Steve rolled onto the bed with a muffled laugh.

“It was good to see you again,” he murmured into Jack’s ear, stretching out lengthwise.

“Likewise,” Jack said. “Likewise.”

\--- EPILOGUE ---

“Rhys,” Gwen said into her laptop. “You won’t believe this, but I’ve just been to the cinema with Thor, the God of Thunder.”

Jack set down the cardkey to the suite and grinned at the sound of Rhys sputtering across the secure connection.

“Of course he didn’t bloody try anything. He has a partner. No, not a goddess, as far as I know. Some sort of boffin academic. Oh, and I’ve had shrimp with Daniel Craig, but I’ll tell you the rest when we get home. Put the baby up. There we are.”

*

Earlier that day, the nanobots had gone through magnetization, de-mag, an EMP, and finally, into the incinerator.

“I’m keeping a couple,” Tony had informed Jack. They were the size of gnats. It wasn’t as if a secure box in the vault took up a lot of room.

“They’re...dead, right?” Gwen asked then. “Jack?”

“Well, they’re mechanical, so they’re not dead, but yeah. Totally inert,” Tony answered for him.

“Just keep them in a secured location,” Jack warned. “If those fell into the wrong hands and the reverse-engineering actually worked...”

“If reverse-engineering them was that easy, they’d already be performing licensed microdermabrasion treatments in spas at three hundred bucks a pop.” He shrugged at Steve’s look. “And also desalinating seawater. Come on, I’m just..really good at fulfilling consumer desires, here.”

“I really love my Starkphone,” Gwen said with a small smile.

“ _Thank_ you.” Tony preened.

 

*

_Four months later_

“They adapt,” Jack had said, after they’d been inside...of Jack. “They learn from their environment.”

Inside the small lead-lined magnetized box cached into in a vault on the 14th floor of Stark Tower, one of the nanobots twitched...and stilled.


End file.
